- In Mexico alone, it is estimated that there are more than 2 million adults and approximately 1.5 million children and adolescents with ADHD.
- UNAM estimates that 65% of patients are misdiagnosed.
- An investigation affirms that the type of posts on Twitter made by users would help to identify potential patients.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the psychiatric disorders with the highest incidence in the child population. It is manifested by a lack of attention and impulsiveness, which significantly affects school progression and social interactions among those who have it. Although to date its cause is not known with certainty, a new investigation mentions that the person responsible would be a genetic mutation specific.
Epidemiological studies show that its prevalence worldwide is between three and five percent in infants. In Mexico it is estimated that It is suffered by more than 2 million adults and approximately 1.5 million among children and adolescents. Despite having been officially recognized since 1968 in the official psychiatric diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Associationthere is still discussion regarding its existence and persistence in adulthood.
In addition, there is uncertainty in the method for its diagnosis, since clinical tools do not go beyond behavioral assessment, which leads, in most cases, to late detection.
Possible cause of its development
For this reason, a study published in the Molecular Psychiatry journalled by Antony Boucard Jr., a researcher at Cinvestav’s Department of Cell Biology, in collaboration with the University of Sherbrooke, in Canada, raised the possibility that Certain mutations in the latrophilin-3 (Lphn3) gene contribute to the development and inheritance of the disorder.
This is because previous studies detected an association between the presence of ADHD and a gene that encodes the adhesion molecule called Lphn3. It is a receptor that is expressed in the brain and has several essential functions such as the neuronal synapse, important for the proper performance of the brain.
The project hypothesis was evaluated by Ana Lilia Moreno SalinasPhD student at the Department of Cell Biology of Cinvestav.
“We analyzed at the cellular level four variants identified in the Lphn3 gene of patients with ADHD and compared them with a gene that does not present these mutations to see if they affect its function.”
It was found that, although the four variants identified in patients with ADHD are different, they interfere in the same way with receptor functions, revealing the potential for mutations to cause the development of the disorder.
This discovery suggests that the mutations could lead to inappropriate formation of neuronal synapses, resulting in delayed development of the nervous system, which would ultimately result in the manifestation of disease-associated symptoms.
inheritance from parents to children
It is known that ADHD is a disorder with a large genetic component, because in several cases there is a history in the parents. This could be due to the fact that the mutations located in the Lphn3 gene are heritable and therefore the risk of developing the disease is transmitted to offspring; however, despite the fact that through detection methods attempts have been made to identify the factors related to its development, the exact causes are still unknown.
Patients with the disorder have certain abnormalities in brain regions related to learning, attention, and motor planning; this suggests defects in neural connections that project a delay in brain maturation.
Faced with this scenario, it is relevant to continue with the studies of Lphn3 since, during neurodevelopment, it provides signals for the cells destined to form the nervous system to join others and build a network whose objective is to help the correct functioning of the nervous system. synapse.
While when the brain is already mature, this molecule participates in the regulation of some neurological processes related to learning and motor behavior. In this sense, the ADHD symptoms: attention deficit, impulsivity (associated with aggressive behaviors) and hyperactivity could be related to a failure in the function of Lphn3.
The study provides new information on the molecular mechanisms of the disorder and lays the foundations for the development of diagnostic methods based on specific biomarkers and with this, alternative treatment strategies are also established.
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